My blog concerning the development of Christianity in the post Kitos and Bar Kochba era. An examination of the texts of the NT and Heresiarchs to understand its development and origins.
It is also a place where I am pushing out unpublished papers and book chapters for public vetting. Comments and questions are always welcome.

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Sunday, June 30, 2013

If Marcion wrote any of the Pauline Epistles - and I think he did - then none can be as wrenching as the last one written, the first one in the collection, Galatians. The situation is looking back on the separation and foundation of his own churches. He is battling a resurgent Jewish Christian camp that has taken over at least one and likely more of the congregations he founded. Further there is a traitor among his trusted Apostles in Cephas, who has turned to the camp of the Jews. This Epistle is a plea to return to his leadership and theology.

The Marcionite version of Galatians has been reconstructed by Adolph Harnack first, then more recently by Daniel Mahar, and most completely by Dr. Herman Detering - whose version I consider by far the best. It is upon Dr. Detering's planting that I am watering in making my reconstruction. There are only a few places of difference, but they are significant, and involve the increased knowledge

Thursday, June 27, 2013

When I began reviewing my prior work on the Marcionite Galatians Interlinear and it has become apparent that it is going to take me a bit longer to go through it and bring it up to publishing condition. It was supposed to be a simple adjustment with my findings from reconstructions to 1 & 2 Corinthians and Romans to the Gold Standard version of Galatians which Dr. Detering has published (Detering's Greek Galatians in Marcionite and Catholic Form) and his copious notes (Notes in English) explaining his decisions. This should have been simple enough, the content is mostly clear and almost identical. My plan is merely to comment on differences I have with Dr. Detering, and add a few additional sources (e.g., Galatians 1:9 from Hegemonius Acta Archelai Book XL), and some general observations. But there are some details of disagreement that require a more rigorous examination to resolve (verses 1:6-9,17, 4:10, 26 and Ephesians 1:21) which will take a few days to work out.

So to entertain you guys for a couple days, I thought I'd share with you a fantastic and wonderful youtube series by Michael Xoroaster on the Bible and other religious things. I was pigging out on his videos over the weekend as if it were the Netflix House of Cards, pure fresh popcorn. Xoroaster makes a very compelling case for the use of astrology

Thursday, June 20, 2013

The reconstruction of the Marcionite 1 Corinthians continues to be a work in progress. My review of the material lead me to conclude that verses 3:12-15, 8:1-3, 8:7-13, and all of 10:22-30, 10:31-11:2 were all post Marcionite. Much of material in Chapter 7 is still unsettled in my book, due to the word ἠλεημένος 'mercy' in verse 7:25, which otherwise never occurs in Marcion's Paul; but I lack any systemic or reasoned method to justify its removal. So I may yet again revisit.

Valentinians Among the Congregation

In the process of analyzing 8:1-3 and 8:7-13 one thing I discovered was the editors apparent acknowledgement of heretics of a Gnostic sect as not only being present in the congregation, but accepted as fellow Christians and brothers. Below is my analysis, which shows the text hints strongly who the group which was reconciled was.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

I have released my reconstruction of 2 Corinthians in Marcionite form, and also the notes for the material I determined to be Catholic in origin and not part of Marcion's text. This letter reads dramatically different from the version in our bibles today, and is radically shorter and more focused as well. Despite the assurances of Harnack (Marcion and the Gospel of the Alien God, outlined on p 33) that Marcion made only a few changes to the Corinthian letters -an opinion also held by Knox- the truth is the letter was radically different from the Catholic, as were all the letters of Paul except Philemon. Our best and most thorough witness Tertullian testified to this fact in Adversus Marcionem 5.21.1 Soli huic epistulae brevitas sua profuit ut falsarias manus Marcionis evaderet. It is Tertullian whom this work shows was correct.

Monday, June 3, 2013

The premise that I have been working
on is that Christianity, at least as a distinct group with its own literature,
came into being in the 2nd century, more or less concurrent or shortly after
the Bar Kochba revolt in Judea and neighboring provinces. Before that
Christianity is essentially prehistoric, we really know nothing. It is from that I posit my ten thousand foot overview of
how the Heresies evolved.

The erstwhile church history that is
the Acts of the Apostles is very dependent upon Josephus Antiquities (c. 94 AD)
for characters and storylines, indicating a 2nd century providence.
The very reference to Hellenist (Greek) Ἑλληνιστάς
in an internal Christian conflict with Hebrews (Jewish) Ἑβραίους in 6:1 (also 9:29, 11:20), but the term seems to fit the era
of the known Roman Hellenist in Caesar Hadrian (117-138 AD) not that of the
Tiberius or Claudius reigns; the source text of Josephus makes no mention to
any Hellenist Jewish faction in Temple worship. So how are we to read the New
Testament in order to understand the development of the Heterodox movements and
more specifically how did the Gnostic come about?